The head of the UN relief and works agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) has warned money to continue operations in the Gaza Strip will only last until mid-June.

Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl said this was despite weathering a "truly existential crisis" over funding last year.

He told the UN Security Council on Wednesday it was "absolutely critical to avoid a breakdown of our food pipeline".

He called on partners, 42 of whom increased their contributions to UNRWA last year after the United States withdrew funding, "to actively mobilise in support of our efforts".

He was briefing via video-link, along with the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov, on the overall political and humanitarian situation.

Mr Krähenbühl said the severe hardship endured by Gazans after "successive armed confrontations, blockade and violence" had been compounded for more than a year by the thousands wounded and hundreds killed under fire from Israeli security forces during the demonstrations at the border fence.

"Every family in Gaza has been impacted and people speak of a level of despair that surpasses anything previously known to them", especially in terms of what UNRWA calls the current "epidemic deterioration of mental-health conditions", he said.

Image: UN Photo/Loey Felipe

He said it was essential to open the next school year on time, in August, and rehabilitating schools to that end needed more funding.

Overall, US$1.2bn (€1.07bn) is required through the year, he said, matching the amount mobilized last year.

He also highlighted an upcoming pledging conference due to take place on June 25th in New York.

In his briefing, UNSCO chief Mladenov said: "We must ask ourselves, how many more years will Palestinians in Gaza be forced to live on a pittance from the international community, under the control of Hamas, and suffer from Israeli closures?"

He said the UN and partners had continued trying to mitigate the impact of the crisis in Gaza, but they were doomed to fail without resolving intra-Palestinian division, the blockade, and "charting a course towards the two-State solution based on long-standing international parameters".

"There are no shortcuts to sustainable peace", he said.

He condemned all attacks on Palestinian and Israeli civilians and called on all sides to refrain from violence.

Main image: UNRWA Commissioner General Pierre Krähenbühl visiting the Abu Tue’ma school in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip in September 2014, to celebrate the start of the new school year | Image: UNRWA/Shareef Sarhan